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Folklore Collection of Dr. Timothy J. Kloberdanz and his NDSU Students

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 146

Scope and Contents

The Folklore Collection of Dr. Timothy J. Kloberdanz and His NDSU Students represents over thirty years of NDSU students collecting and documenting specific examples of oral, customary, and material-based folkways as part of the academic course ‗Folklore and Culture‘ (Anthropology 196, Anthropology 212, later Anthropology 208) taught by Dr. Timothy J. Kloberdanz. This collection of well over 10,000 items recognizes and celebrates the rich folk heritage of North Dakota and the entire Northern Great Plains region. Because of the dynamic and every-changing nature of folklore, ‗items‘ of folklore rarely lend themselves to clear-cut procedures of classification. Archival standards for folklore collections vary nationwide and internationally, leading each institution (including our own) to establish its own system of classifications. This collection reflects two separate accessions of NDSU student work. The first was acquired in 1985 from Dr. Kloberdanz and processed by his graduate assistant Millie Nieuwsma-Buekea. It covers folklore material from 1977 to 1985. It was divided into three series: Oral Folklore, Customary Folklore, and Material Folk Culture, with additional categories of Family Folklore and Other Types of Folklore. Within each of the major categories are various genres (e.g. legends, jokes, riddles). These genres are further divided into subgenres or thematic categories such as "Light Bulb Jokes," "Elephant Jokes," and others. These subgenres are placed alphabetically in individual files for ready access. In contrast to the 1977-1985 portion, the more recent body of material that covers from 1986 to 2010 is considerably larger and more diverse. Another major difference is that this newer portion is organized by general genres/categories, as opposed to very specific topical or thematic genres. Thus, the genre designations for the 1986-2010 folklore material will vary somewhat from the earlier listing. In addition, a few ―new‖ and different genres appear that include folklore categories like memorates, nicknames, hunting/fishing/trapping lore, computer folklore, etc. The basic organizational structure of the two accessions has been retained. The designation (1977-1985) with each series indicates the initial accession while (1986-2010) indicates the most recent accession.

Dates

  • 1977-2010

Creator

Access

The collection is open under the rules and regulations of the Institute. Those using the collection will respect the rights and privacy of individual informants and individual collectors. If dealing with any sensitive material (e.g., ethnic jokes, racial topics, political humor, etc.), personal names and other identifiers should not be used. The wishes of folklore informants or collectors to remain anonymous must be respected in all cases.

Copyrights

Copyrights to this collection are not held by the Institute. Note: Some of the folklore material in this collection was published in the book Sundogs and Sunflowers (2010) and protected by its copyright.

History

When Timothy J. Kloberdanz became a faculty member at NDSU in the mid-1970s, he felt it was very important for his Anthropology students to do ―fieldwork‖ and to interview people from various walks of life. One of the courses that Dr. Kloberdanz created at NDSU was ―Folklore and Culture‖ (Anthropology 196, Anthropology 212, later Anthropology 208) and he taught the class for more than three decades. In order to help the students better understand the dynamic nature of folklore, he encouraged his students to collect and document specific examples of oral, customary, and material-based folkways. Owing to the location of NDSU, most of the folklore examples were from North Dakota and other parts of the Northern Great Plains. Dr. Kloberdanz supervised all of the folklore collecting efforts and he often collected folklore himself so that he remained current with changing traditions and the latest folklore ―trends‖ (such as new and developing urban legends and emerging joke cycles). Altogether, the ―Folklore Collection of Dr. Timothy J. Kloberdanz and His NDSU Students‖ comprises approximately 10,745 individual items and includes folklore material for many, but not all, years between 1977 and 2010. The folklore items in the collection are based on face-to-face interviews with a variety of personal contacts (e.g., casual acquaintances, close friends, fellow students, roommates, parents, siblings, relatives, community members, etc.). All of the folklore material was collected in accordance with the guidelines and protocol of the NDSU Institutional Review Board (IRB). Prior to the folklore collecting process, Dr. Kloberdanz repeatedly emphasized the basic IRB principles of ―informed consent,‖ ―voluntary participation,‖ and ―human participant protection.‖ He also stressed the absolute need for anonymity, confidentiality, or pseudonyms in cases dealing with ―sensitive‖ or questionable folklore material. Students who collected folklore sometimes approached the task with a certain degree of shyness or trepidation but eventually ―the ice was broken‖ between interviewer and interviewee and the conversations (and the stories) quickly flowed. Dr. Kloberdanz and his folklore students often pointed out that the major challenge that faced them during the interviews was not so much trying to get people to ―open up‖ but rather trying to politely and respectfully bring each exchange to a timely close! Over the years Dr. Kloberdanz was aided in his efforts by a number of graduate student assistants. In the 1970s and early 1980s, these students included Kathleen P. Andrews, Nadine Engbrecht-Schaff, Millie Nieuwsma-Buekea, and others. In 1985, Dr. Kloberdanz turned over a large amount of folklore material to the NDSU Institute for Regional Studies. Under Dr. Kloberdanz‘s direction and supervision, Millie Nieuwsma-Buekea helped process the initial folklore collection that was housed in the Institute. In the early 1980s, the emphasis was on text classification by specific genre and specific theme/topic. This highly-detailed focus would change in ensuing years. From 1986-2010, folklore collection and cataloging became more general and the files for these years clearly reflect this change. Assisting Dr. Kloberdanz during these later years were Anthropology graduate student assistants Paul T. Emch, Troyd A. Geist, Ben Hoffman, Ronda L. Krenzel, Maureen E. McDonald-Hins, Jessica L. Rau, Meika M. Smith, Jessica D. Wright, and others. The efforts of Paul T. Emch and Ben Hoffman proved especially important in organizing and processing the 1986-2010 folklore files (which included nearly 9,000 individual folklore items). One of Dr. Kloberdanz‘s graduate assistants, Troyd A. Geist, went on to become a nationally recognized folklorist for the North Dakota Council on the Arts (NDCA). In the 1990s, Dr. Kloberdanz and Troyd Geist discussed plans for a special compilation devoted to the folk traditions of the Northern Great Plains, based largely on material drawn from the folklore collection of Dr. Kloberdanz and his NDSU students. Thus, both individuals went to work and compiled and edited just such a book. The project took several years and countless hours. In December 2010, the NDCA published Sundogs and Sunflowers: Folklore and Folk Art of the Northern Great Plains. Although this book runs more than 350 pages and includes more than a thousand examples of regional folklore and folk art, the large volume represents only a relatively small percentage of all the material in the Folklore Collection that is currently housed in the Institute for Regional Studies at NDSU.

Biography

In fall 1976 Timothy J. Kloberdanz first came to NDSU. Within only a couple of years, he created a number of new Anthropology courses at the university, ranging from popular folklore classes to highly demanding ethnology and theory-based courses. Dr. Kloberdanz‘s areas of academic specialization were varied and wide-ranging: cultural anthropology, folklore and expressive traditions, world mythology, anthropological methods and paradigms, ethnicity and ethnic groups, culture change, peoples and cultures of the Great Plains region, and the “Russlanddeutsche” (Germans from Russia). During his tenure at NDSU, Dr. Kloberdanz published more than a hundred articles and monographs. He also co-authored or co-edited four books: Plains Folk: North Dakota’s Ethnic History (1986), Thunder on the Steppe: Volga German Folklife in a Changing Russia (1993), We Remember: Stories of the Germans from Russia (2006), and Sundogs and Sunflowers: Folklore and Folk Art of the Northern Great Plains (2010). A native of Colorado, Dr. Kloberdanz earned his BA from the University of Colorado (1971), his Masters from Colorado State University (1974), and his PhD from Indiana University (1986). During his 34-year teaching career at NDSU, he received a number of awards and honors. These included the North Dakota Governor‘s Award for the Arts (2001), the North Dakota Humanities Council ―Distinguished Service Award‖ (2001), and the NDSU College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences ―Outstanding Teacher‖ Award (2003). Dr. Kloberdanz often was aided in his research by his wife Rosalinda Kloberdanz, a folklorist and scholar in her own right. Rosalinda did a groundbreaking Master‘s thesis at NDSU that focused on ethnic women‘s folklore and family life (1992). The study was based on field research she and Dr. Kloberdanz did in rural Russia during the historic and turbulent ―Second Russian Revolution‖ of 1991. In May 2010, Dr. Kloberdanz retired from teaching at NDSU. He remains active doing scholarly research, community service, professional consulting, public speaking, and writing. When asked for advice by students about important career decisions and lifetime choices, Dr. Kloberdanz often shared a favorite proverb taught him at an early age by his mother: ―True happiness consists of three things: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.‖

Extent

7 Linear Feet (7 linear feet (ca. 10,745 items))

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Provenance

Donated by Dr. Timothy J. Kloberdanz, 1985 & 2010 (Acc. 2952).

Property rights

The Institute for Regional Studies owns the property rights to this collection.

Subjects

Related Names

Creator

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Finding Aid to the Folklore Collection of Dr. Timothy J. Kloberdanz and His NDSU Students
Description rules
Appm
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Institute for Regional Studies Repository

https://library.ndsu.edu/ndsuarchives/collections/institute-regional-studies-archive-collection
Contact:
West Building N
3551 7th Avenue North
Fargo North Dakota 58102 United States

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